New TV package aimed at Habs fans across country

Scott Moore, a self-professed Canadiens fan who is the president of Sportsnet and NHL Properties for Rogers Media, was among those on hand for a news conference Wednesday in Boucherville as TVA launched its inaugural season of French-language NHL coverage.

Rogers also announced on Wednesday a new package that will allow Habs fans across the country to watch all 82 regular-season games on TV. Before Wednesday’s announcement, Canadiens fans living west of Belleville, Ont., wouldn’t have had access to the regional coverage unless they paid $200 for the NHL Centre Ice TV package.

Rogers announced Wednesday that fans outside of Montreal and Ottawa broadcast regions can now also get up to 111 games broadcast live in French, including the Canadiens (60 games) and the Senators (54 games) on both Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE (the NHL streaming service) and on TV with NHL Centre Ice. The 60 non-regional Habs games and the 54 Senators games will be available for $60 to those outside the regional market.

“Canadiens fans have more access to their team’s games than any fan base in Canada,” Moore told reporters in Boucherville. “They can see more games, for example, than a Leafs fan in Vancouver. We’ve put together a French-language package which will allow fans to see 60 Canadiens games and 54 Ottawa Senators.”

When Rogers outbid TSN for the national rights last November, paying $5.2 billion over 12 years, it sold the French rights to TVA and RDS had to make do with regional packages involving the Canadiens and Senators.

TVA Sports is paying more than $1.3 billion for the national French TV rights over 12 years and the network will be offering more than 330 NHL games this season, beginning with the Montreal-Toronto season opener on Oct. 8.

One drawback for TVA is that the schedule only includes 22 Canadiens games. The other 60 regular-season games are part of the RDS regional package. RDS will also televise all seven Habs pre-season games.

Félix Seguin will be the main play-by-play voice for TVA and former NHL goaltender Patrick Lalime will join him in the booth. Reporter Renaud Lavoie, who left RDS, will also be part of the TVA team and Louis Jean will host the telecasts. Former Habs Patrice Brisebois, José Theodore and Mathieu Dandenault will be among the TVA analysts.

Rogers also announced on Wednesday that starting this January, fans in Quebec with Rogers NHL GameCentre and a TVA Sports subscription from a participating television provider can watch live French broadcasts of over 100 national games featuring all of the Canadian teams.

264 Comments

But Rogers is offering a separate deal that contains just the RDS regional games — 60 Canadiens games and 54 Ottawa Senators games — for $60 for the season. That might be enough for the hard-core fans to accept. (Note that this is for fans outside the Canadiens and Senators market, which is all of Quebec, all of Atlantic Canada and the part of Ontario that’s east of Belleville and Pembroke.)

If this is true, for me it’s the way to go. I assume that all the TVA and Sportsnet national broadcasts will also be covered by RDS, so no chance of boosting the total game count that way. So, essentially I would subscribe to RDS to gain an extra 20 games for $60, plus I have the option of not listening to the Toronto-centric broadcasts. Not thrilled, but not despondent.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
Mark Twain

They’re using properties they own the rights to, to lure in new customers,
Sort of like how TSN is luring customers with the NFL.

Of the NHL does when it gives away gobs of free tickets in the Sunshine State.

I don’t think this example falls under Unfair Competition. There’s plenty of other events in the world of Telecom and Cable/Satellite that do, but this is simply a rights owner offering it’s product as it sees fit.

Agree Luke, I actually have zero issue with whatever the Rogers/TVA consortium does, or what they charge. My issue is the soapbox speech about how great this deal is, how wonderful all the viewers will feel, yet they still can’t detail what it is they are offering. Besides of course the Shakespearean thoughts of Kypreos.

…”This October, fans outside of Montreal and Ottawa broadcast regions can also get up to 111 games broadcast live in French, including les Canadiens (60 games) and les Sénateurs (54 games) on both Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE™ and on TV with Centre Ice®.

Starting in October, customers can also subscribe to a French-only package that includes select out-of-market regional games for $59.99 for the 2014 – 2015 season.”

As per the Fagstein article linked above: The 60 Habs games mentioned above are the RDS games. One has to be subscribed to either Sportsnet or TVA sports to get access to the additional “French-only package” mentioned above and that your TV provider has to participate in the Rogers program.

So, combine this with the already announced 22 national Habs games in French exclusively on TVA sports (ie:not on RDS), this allows access outside of the region to all of the Habs games in French. I don’t know about all the cable companies to the west, but I believe Bell satellite will “participate in the Rogers program”. I think it basically means that if they provide the Rogers channels (Sportsnet etc and / or TVA sports) then they should be participating in the mechanism to verify your subscription as required to allow access to the “French-only package”.

Nope – not here in Nova Scotia.
We have RDS access – no habs blackouts.
Statscan reports that 31,000 of the population has French as its Mother tongue. ( I don’t know where they’re hiding) but RDS (or is it Rogers?) in their wisdom deemed NS….

ton of talk about how to best set up to see all the Habs games…talk about 2014 first world problems…..I’m sure I would be concerned as well if I wasn’t forced to buy Center Ice but I have no other choice if I want to watch games on TV…I’m too lazy or not cheap enough to bother with the internet option as a solution – also – live sports is about the only reason to buy any kind of TV content..I use DirectTV cause I am also addicted to NFL.

Greetings, new poster here but I’d thought I’d add my 2 cents plus gst to this issue. I’m a habs fan in Edmonton and I’m also unsure what the new tv system’s gonna look like come October. I’m with Bell right now and have RDS so I am going to go with the status quo for now.
I figure my best course of action is tune into RDS when the puck drops in October and act accordingly. Sure, you may miss a game or two but I figure it beats the uncertainty or locking yourself into a bad contract now. I’m also pretty sure that there will be more deals and promotions at around that time too. Memory also serves that there is usually a two week free preview for Centre Ice from most providers so I wouldn’t worry too much about missing any games when the season starts.
Signature intentionally left blank.

Site won’t load right now, but this got me thinking of Patrick Holland, and how he’s slipped down the depth chart and has not lived up to the little hype that surrounded him when the trade for Bourque was made.

Definitely a case of how hard it is to predict how a young player is going to development. There is no formula for it. Sometimes it is bad luck and all it takes is a couple of injuries so a player can’t train properly in the off season and sometimes it is just a matter of younger guys developing better and passing a prospect on the depth chart. There is no way I would of predicted the change in Bournival over just last summer. It looked like he had a mediocre AHL season the year before
( stats wise anyway ), and then he comes in and makes the Habs right out of camp. He passed a lot of players over 1 summer. I also attribute the decline of Louis LeBlanc to the shoulder injuries he sustained soon after drafted and not being able to properly train over the summers, but maybe I’m just naive.

Not at all surprised that people are contacting their service providers and getting different messages depending on which customer service rep they are getting at that company’s call center. There are times I have called Rogers and knew I was talking to someone that wasn’t necessarily “qualified”, so I’d just say thank you , hang up and call back to stay on hold for another 15 minutes in hopes to get someone that knew what they were talking about. And “supervisors” don’t always have the right answers either.In this case, some of this news is only 1 or 2 days old, so you are bound to get conflicting opinions. Hockey season is not for another 34 days. I’m going to sit back and relax, watch my preseason games on RDS ( I know this is not an option West of Belleville ) and just before start of season I will figure out whether or not I have to change my current cable package or possibly provider. At that time when I call maybe the people I am talking to will be more informed or there could possibly be newer or better deals between now and then.

If I was Sidney Crosby, I’d threaten a lawsuit for defamation, unless Québecor made a $1M donation to a charity or something, over and above their budgeted charity budgeted amount to reduce their tax burden.

———————————————————————–It’s somewhere between a toothless attack and a vicious homage.–Paul Rudd

Sometimes it’s best just to let things fade away.
As you know quite well, these things are forgotten quickly.

If Sid brings attention to this and wants to play it out, Sun media/journal de Montreal have some folks that can dig up any kind of dirt…whether true or false.
Every yahoo in the world will come out with a bad Sid story.
He can’t win that game no matter how squeaky clean his image is so far.

All this confusion just reinforces my thoughts that there should be an all inclusive online streaming package that allows you to watch all the team’s game.
Playoffs, pre season, regular season, all included.
Heck, they could even include stuff like 24CH in there…

They could even put it on netflix or something, make it easy on the customers.

I know it’s probably not going to happen until the NHL signs a new broadcasting contract.
There have to be clauses in there that make it so it cannot be as open online as I’d want it.

And there’s now way I’d willing to pay 500$ to watch the Habs season, that’s a ridiculous amount of money.
If game center is 100-200$, i don’t see why it should be all that much more, if a new broadcasting deal is struck.

Got a screenshot of that 2 x $24.99 thing handy, although as you read the fine print it states “Don’t miss a minute of the 2013-14 NHL® season. ” So it is indeed the last season’s or portion of it price.

Anyway…

Called Bell and said that I am looking at this promo on their website for NHL CenterIce at 2x$24.99. The girl who no speaka english good (just like me) says can I put you on hold. Come back and says that as a loyal customer I can get 2 months free (Oct, Nov). Great, I say. But after november I want the rest of the season for 2 x $24.99. She says ok and puts me on hold again. Then she comes back saying she in waiting for confirmation from NHL CenterIce (whoever the F they are). I tell her why do you need to confirm. You have a promo on your website, I want it, let’s just do it. She says she need the confirmation. Puts me on hold again, comes back and says that after Nov I pay 2 x $24.99. I say fine, please send me email confirming all that, including that my payment in the end of Nov will be 2x$24.99. She says of course, adds NHL CenterIce to my lineup (confirmed) and we amicably say goodbye to each other.

I get the email but it just states that the NHL center ice has been added but nothing about the price. I check my bell profile and it’s there for $0.00 which I assume will last 2 months. So, remains to be seen and I get a feeling that one the free trial expires it won’t be 2x$24.99 but for now I get it for fee so whatever.

I remember in the fine print on one I did years ago, it also said I would automatically be registered for the following season at a much higher rate. I doubt they can do this and not allow you to cancel, but you may want to check. And check to see if the cancellation fee is $99…. Or something.
but in the end I think it sounds like a good deal.
like I said the other day. I pay $160 for center ice here in the USA.

It’s like we are all at an A.A. meeting giving our stories! What a clusterf*ck this whole thing is. Perhaps Shanahan should be put in charge of this and he can clean it all up like he did the NHL Justice Dept. and how he has already turned the Leafs around.

Okay, so my head exploded about a half hour ago. With the bits I’ve been able to reassemble, this is what I think I know:
1. Centre Ice will be broadcasting 60 Habs games. These will be English language broadcasts, mostly from the “hostile” point of view. I called my provider, Shaw, and was told to call back later as they haven’t yet set their price. I was also told that Centre Ice was “the only way to view Habs” this season.
2. Sportsnet will be broadcasting 40 Habs games this year, but I don’t know how to determine if there is any overlap between them and Centre Ice. My assumption is that any games I can get from Sportsnet will not also be available to me on Centre Ice. The Sportsnet broadcasts, I think, will be carried on a variety of venues including CBC, City TV, and the Sportnets channels themselves. I am told by the Shaw rep that I’m already getting all those channels with the slightly-more-than-basic package I now have.
3. TVA is carrying 22 nationally broadcast games. Again I do not know how to cross-reference these against Sportsnet’s 40 or Centre Ice’s 60, to decide whether it’s worthwhile to subscribe. (By the way, 60 plus 22 equals 82. Is it just coincidence, or dare I hope?) Shaw tells me I can buy TVA Sport for $2.49 a month, but I see in the above article that they won’t be able to start broadcasting till January, so no rush to make that decision.

At this point, pending Shaw’s decision on Centre Ice pricing, I am leaning towards going with the 40 “free” games from Sportnet, plus the 22 from TVA at $2.49, so long as I can determine that there is little or no overlap. This would satisfy the inclinations of my Scottish blood, provide me with 20 games worth of additional family time and allow for one tiny protest against the Bettman/Centre Ice plot.

Thanks to those who have been patient enough to follow me through this long-winded prattle.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

I think the 22 TVA games are going to be the ones which are part of the 40 Sportnet games myself. I get the impression TVA will be National Broadcast games, therefore on the same nights as the 40 Sportsnet/City/CBC/Bravo/A&E/NtlGeographic/Playboy/Weathernetwork Channel games.

Yes. There is no need for RDS, since they’re blacked out now, unless you enjoy their other coverage, and shows like l’Antichambre, and no need for TVA Sports, since the ‘national’ games they cover will be on the Sportsnet hegemony also. I think TVA and Sportsnet will both be clown outfits, but I already get Sportsnet in my sports package, so I’ll go with them, and maybe mute them and synch them with the TSN Montréal feed, or a streamed RDS feed.

Hello, Rogers? Hi, my name is Bob Newhart, and I live west of Belleville. Pardon? No, Belleville. The city. I know this is Rogers. I’m calling about a television package so I can watch all 82 Montreal Canadiens games. Yeah, the hockey team. The Leafs? Yeah, they’re okay, I guess. Don’t really follow them that much. I’m a playoff hockey man myself. So what I was ca -what’s that? Rogers owns part of the Leafs? Ahh, that’s nice. Which part, the peticle [chuckles timidly]? No, no, that was a joke. So, as I was askingPardon? No, I wasn’t being snippy. All I want to know is, um, can I sign up to see, you know, all 82 Canadien games? Yeah, all 82. Unhh? Well, I’m a, I’m a hockey fan, that’s why. No, it’s not like watching the Leafs at all. I, ah, actually enjoy watching the games, I, uh, I can’t speak for Leaf fans. So about signing upWhat’s that, un huh, un huh, un huh, un huh. RDS, yeah, yeah. TVA, un huh. Sportsnet, right, right. Gamecentre. Yeah. Centre Ice. Gotcha. So let me get this straight, so for guys like me who live west of Belleville – Belleville, BelleVILLE! — I can watch 60 Canadien games on RDS, 60 of them! For 60 bucks? SIXTY BUCKS? That’s, that’s amazing, sign meExcuse me. That includes 54 Senator games? But, but I don’t want to watch Senator games. You’re, you’re saying I HAVE to watch the Senator games or my subscription gets cancelled. You can do that, you can track what I’m watching? Well, yeah, about that, my nephew was visiting for the weekend, I went to bed, he stayed up late. Pardon? No, he doesn’t stay every weekend. Look, can we get back to hockey. So if I pay $60 I get to watch 60 Canadien games but I also have to watch the Senators play. [exhales heavily] Hmmmm. Never mind. Sign me up for the Leafs package. 82 games, $100, right? And when do I get my money? End of the season? Okay, thanks. Bye.

Crazy man. I have Rogers where all of their call center agents are located in Canada, at least every person I’ve spoken to. I hear Bell is a disaster when you call because many of their call centers are not located in Canada.

Rogers is pricey, which pisses me off, but the do have very good customer service and their product is very reliable.

One thing about the Bell folks – they are certainly polite.
sometimes I wonder if they are paid by the number of times they say thank you-thank you for holding-sorry for the delay-let me check with my supervisor…

Justin Bourne is one of the best writers/bloggers out there. Here is his take on the scrimmage at the PotionMagique™ summer camp in Toronto. Interesting observations on Tyler Séguin, Tomas Kaberle, Mike Cammalleri, and Josh Ho-Sang among others.

I don’t think anyone doubts Josh Ho-Sang’s talent and skill, but what Justin Bourne describes is another strike against him in my book. I’m likely to take the point of view when evaluating players of a teammate having to share the ice or field with him, spending time in the dressing room hearing him wisecrack or bitch and moan, on road trips on the bus or at the restaurant or walking around town and finding him to be a complete tool.

So I wouldn’t want a prima donna like him on my team, and thus I wouldn’t want him on the Canadiens. I do understand your point though, and it’s a good one, as a fan I should cheer this guy on, rather than another WHL grinding plugger who will toe the Coach’s Corner line.

I’m a little confused about that as well. I think there is a technicality, that the NHL CBA doesn’t have any official provision for Try Out contracts, but the AHL does, with amateur and professional versions. Any links shiram?

Having said that, players can be invited for a tryout at NHL camps, like Simon Gagné in Boston this year, and Mason Raymond last year in Toronto, and Steve Bégin two summers ago in Calgary. They might be in NHL contract limbo, but there are players who try out.

A PTO or Professional Try Out is a type of AHL contract that is offered to professional hockey players.
This contract can last a maximum of 25 AHL games (but can be shorter.)
A player may sign 2 PTO’s in any one AHL season.
A player may not play any regular season or playoff NHL games while on a PTO, he must be signed to an NHL SPC (standard player contract) in order to play for an NHL team.

Exception:
Goatender PTO: A professional Goaltender may be signed to a NHL Goaltender PTO and play in the NHL, however this only acceptable in an emergency situation and the goaltender is only eligible to play for one NHL game.
A Goaltender PTO is subject to approval by the League.

” An ATO or Amateur Try Out is a type of NHL OR AHL contract that is offered to non-professional hockey players (usually NCAA players.)

In the NHL a player on an ATO may play one (and only ONE) NHL game and the ATO is subject to approval by the League.
In the AHL a player on an ATO may play any number of games.
The most common use of an ATO is to allow players that have finished their NCAA season to transition into the AHL without needing a formal contract.
Another common use is the signing of an Amateur Goaltender in an emergency circumstance to allow an NHL team to dress 2 goaltenders as is required.”

Thanks Ron and shiram, my sense of the situation was pretty close. A player in the NHL needs to be on a Standard Player Contract.

My question becomes, does a player on a tryout at an NHL camp like Steve Bégin or Simon Gagné do so under an AHL PTO? What happens if he gets injured, let’s say he blows out his knee? Does he go on IR at the NHL minimum contract amount, or AHL?

Hola Amigos! Got my email confirm for Centre Ice and it didn’t make sense,so I called and talked to a supervisor at Bell. It’s not $50 for the season like I was told from the guy in India!. They haven’t set the price yet! I cancelled it. Bast#rds!!

But Scott Moore is a Habs fan, doesn’t this make it all better for us? I mean why else would the pantload of a suit stand up and tell us how great the Habs are and how great he is, if he isn’t doing great things for us?

Edit: Yes I know Scott Moore is with Rogers and not Bell, but Rogers bungled this whole thing to start with.

I’ve just had too many experiences with these cable companies where it’s clear as day the sales rep has NO idea what he or she is talking about (especially when you start asking questions about their sports packages, blackouts etc.)

With all the games in English in the Habs region, I can now cancel my subscription to RDS. Bell Fibe was gouging me pretty badly by forcing me to pay for a French package for $15 a month, so my cable is much cheaper now. But I have a feeling I will miss the RDS broadcasts, they were my favorite.

The $60 game centre deal seems pretty good all around for Habs fans in the West. This pretty much meets the demands of the petition folks I would think.

HEre is something people need to understand about Gamecenter… it is, as far as I can tell, an internet based stream. I have Gamecenter (not activated) as an add on for my Bluray player. If it is indeed an internet stream than there are FREE equally good streams available. NHL on Demand add-on is one of them.

If Rogers is going to make it available as a direct TV broadcast through some TV channel or NHL Center Ice than it’s different. But to date, Gamecenter could only be accessed online. So $60 for something you can get online for free is NOT a good deal.

Hence the “on demand”
Serves my purpose since I can’t watch games live anyway. But yeah, I see what you’re saying. There is also SportDevil add-on although I haven’t tried it. Not sure what games you can catch on it and what the quality is.

But if I were to pay for the online stream I’d pay to hockeysteams where you get practically all hockey in the world. And also because this money won’t go to Rogers and the good guy Scott Moore.

lol -I never said I was bright. I tried sports devil last year but wasn’t happy with the stream quality. It was usually quite grainy which is tough when you are used to watching it in HD. With the new version of Gotham XBMC it should be better but only time will tell. I am going to try a couple pre-season games to see how it loos before committing to anything.

GameCentre is internet based, which should be available on tablets/phones/computers and some console as well. CentreIce is the TV version. There are going to be some free trials for each coming up for both versions. Obviously you would need rogers cable to get CentreIce for the first week or 2 of the season, but internet and/or wireless customers are going to get GameC0entre until Dec 31 if i remember the dates right

Game Center means watching through computer correct? Perhaps my old lazy carcass is to blame, but would rather just use my TV remote to find the game. Bad enough Windows XP is no longer supported on my computer which I keep in TV room!

Honestly, I’m more confused than ever lol.
I’m now considering this $60 GCL option (I’ll simply run an HDMI cable from my laptop to TV). However, There are still 42 other games that I’m not sure I’ll have access to or not (I’m west of Belleville).

Phil C, you might want to wait until the preseason games are over before cancelling RDS as I believe they are only available on RDS regionally. This is assuming you would be interested in watching those 7 preseason games.

Looks like to me the only way you can get the other 40 games for 60 bucks is if you are with rogers. Bell/shaw/cogeco = NO GO. Centre Ice for 200 bucks still looks like the only answer. I’ll keep my fingers crossed about my conversation with cogeco yesterday and how “Ontario habs fans” won’t be subject to the blackouts on TVA sports or RDS.

OK, I’m sorry for asking this but hopefully someone can clear this up for me. I have Bell. Can I now purchase a $60 package which will allow me to watch all of the habs games? I also have sportsnet. I am west of belleville

You should be able to get half the games with what you have now. There were a bunch of posters here yesterday that said they called Bell and purchased Center Ice for only $50 for the other half, plus a ton of other games featuring other teams.

If you felt like going the online route, you could also get the other half in French by purchasing a special Habs package from GameCenter. Not sure if that one is available for Bell customers though?

Bottom line, Call Bell and demand the Center Ice package for $50 to get the other half of the Habs games you don’t get with your current package.

I am leaving for a 2 or 3 week trip to the east coast in 15 min. 1st stop Brossard practice rink to make sure things are in order before pushing east.
By now you should all have received your SUMMIT tickets, and here is the Itinerary for those that are attending some of our events. Everyone is welcome, so come on out to meet each other!
Just don’t forget your donation gift for the children’s charity raffle each, at the pre-game dinner.

Our 8th annual 2014 HIO Fan Summit is, Nov.29th weekend.

Looks like about 150 of us this year will attend!

ITINERARY & LOCATIONS
We are staying at the Novotel hotel, discount rates at 866-861-6112 Tell them you are with HIO to get your discount.

We will all meet and greet 2nd floor at Hurley’s pub Friday eve. on Crescent St. Some of us will be having supper there. Big screen for Hab’s at Buffalo game for us on the 2nd floor, and name tags will be given out.

Saturday morning, breakfast is at Chez Cora’s at 8:30am. 1240 Drummond St. You can order a la cart and everyone gets 15% discount off your bill.

After breakfast we walk over to the Bell Center and Hall of Fame Tours.

At 3pm the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation charity raffle at the Baton Rouge restaurant 1050 Mountain St.
Each person is asked to bring one gift item to donate for the charity raffle, so everyone gets a gift to go home with.

Then our Baton Rouge restaurant pre game dinner. With special guests.

After dinner we walk across the street to see the Hab’s take on Gionta, Gorges and the Buffalo Sabers.

After the game the 2nd floor of Hurley’s pub is reserved for us again, to celebrate the win. Just identify yourself as a HIO member.

Please be generous with your charity raffle gifts and your purchase of raffle tickets. It is a way for the HIO community to give back to less fortunate kids.

Enjoy talking hockey and meeting your wonderful HIO community at this years Summit.
Ian

I called cogeco yesterday down here in Windsor Ontario and was asking for a deal on centre ice. I said I only needed centre ice and not the other 5 sports that come along with it to see if I could get it cheaper than 32 bucks a month. I said I used to just use RDS for the habs games but now need centre ice since the changes have been made. He mentioned to me that all I need is this “FRANCO” package that includes TVA SPORTS HD and RDS HD plus all the other channels that I already have and that will get me all the games without paying big bucks for centre ice. I tried to explain to him that anyone west of belleville will be blacked out and centre ice is the only remedy for that problem. He assured me as well as his boss as they received a memo back in the middle of august that stated something along the lines of “fans in ontario are assured of no blackouts on TVA sports and RDS”. I was a bit skeptical but went with it. He said check back in October if it’s not working and we will see what we can do. So, I’m hoping it will work but don’t think it will. Also it looks like this new deal for habs fans is only available with rogers tv. I’ll have to call cogeco again to see if they have access to this deal as well.

I called Rogers yesterday and the person was quite confused. She by the end of the call said Center Ice should be free until December….not just the the online version. Who knows if it is true but I think everyone with Rogers should wait before they commit to anything cause I don’t think this is done unfolding yet

OK, so ROGERS, the sponsor of the TORONTO team, has stepped up to the plate by offering the package for all Montreal games.

How about something similar from BELL? You know, the BELL whose name is on the building where the Habs play. The country is divided by more than just fan base but also by media supplier. Some of us can not or do not want Rogers but don’t get a fair shake from the other major player, Bell. What’s up with that? Time to raise the bar, Bell and offer the same deal on Expressvu and Fibe. Or don’t be a hypocrite and put your name on their building.

There is no hypocrisy involved. Sorry but it bugs me when people mis-use that word. They paid to have their name on the building and what they are paying for is millions of postive brand impressions each year, that is all, it is just advertising.

Granted, they pay for the right to have their name there but they are using the draw of the hockey fans to get the exposure. Rogers was proactive, seeing a weak link in the Bell programming that they jumped on. I am suggesting that Bell do the right thing for their customers and give them a similar deal, that’s all.

I have been waiting for a long time for them to do the right thing, and that is why I ditched all TV services. I’ll pop by the local pub to watch some games, stream a few, etc, but until the tv networks give me the ability to choose my channels (probably never), I won’t subscribe. Would strongly suggest others do the same. The fact is, after the first couple weeks, you wont miss it, and you’ll come up with some great new hobbies.

The ideal anthem singer:
– Available on game nights — both weekdays and weekends — from September to June
– No instruments; the anthem is performed a capella
– Solo, or in a group of four (4) or less
—————————-
Does that mean Charlie Prevost Linton is out?
Anyhow, love the Bell Centre, but it could never beat the Blackhawks National anthem atmosphere sung by James Cornelison

You’ll get 40 Nationally televised games with standard cable: CBC, CTV & Sportsnet. If you live in the Habs region the rest of the games are split up between RDS and TVA. If you live outside the region you will need to stream the games on Rogers Game Centre for $60.

All summer i have read you guys whinning and complaining about the tv deal and how montreal canadiens fans don’t get treated better than the rest of hockey fans.

So Rogers announces that hab fans can watch all the games on gamecenter for $60!
Once again the habs fans get treated better than every other fan base. If you are an out of region leaf/oiler/canuck/jets/flames/sens fan you have to pay the full price on game center/center ice to watch all your teams games. Which is at least double than the $60 price tag habs fans need to pay.

People on the site are bitching about this!!!!!!!!!!!
boo hoo, we have to pay less than everyone else. wah wah. Whatever!

I am in the GTA and I just signed up for the $50 center ice package from bell. The rep really didn’t know what he was talking about when I inquired about as he called it “NFL center ice”, but he was willing to sign me up. The website is referring to 2013/2014 late season discount price, so I’m not sure we will actually get this great deal. I asked numerous times about this package being for the upcoming season which he reassured that it was. I guess we will just have to wait now and see what happens.

At least we have French Game Center live in our back pockets if need be. Anyways, can’t wait until the season starts….

I called Bell last night and again today. Here is what they say. The fee for Center Ice has not been set yet and they don’t have a schedule yet but they ( according to the representative ) feel it will similar to last years package of 4 payments of $49.99 if you purchase it before October 15th I think he said. If you wait until the free preview is over it goes up a few dollars on that payment schedule. There is no magic package offered by Bell for two payments of $25 for the year as some have said. So if I am wrong here it isn’t because I am making anything up..this came from Bell and I asked the representative to check with a supervisor on this. I can’t really understand why people on here are making up BS about cheap Bell package…Bell doesn’t do anything cheap and you ought to know that.

I totally agree!!! Last years price is still up on the website, & that’s only for the last portion of the season. I was told it will likely be 4 payments of $51.99. No magic package with Bell until they find out from Rogers what they can do.

Now that the dust seems to have settled it seems like Habs fans across the country should be somewhat happy? Some of the non tech savvy folks west of Belleville might have to take a crash course in using an HDMI cable, computer and television setup to see all the games but that ain’t so bad!

One thing that doesn’t seem to have happened though is the ability to ditch cable altogether? I don’t think? Unless you go the illegal stream route or the free, crappy quality, streams?

So you’re still stuck paying a good chunk of change for cable each month and also a $60 for GameCenter in some cases. All in all there isn’t much of a price increase, if any?

I was hoping I could cut ties with cable $70 x 12 months and just buy all the games online for $200 or something like that but it’s not happening. I don’t think?

Anyway. I was initially happy I get all the games in English here in Ottawa but I’ve learned a substantial amount of French watching RDS. So we’ll see, I might rotate between English and French broadcasts, especially if Sportsnet puts someone annoying in there to do the English games.

[sigh], Why do I feel more confused than ever now? Too many channels/regions/languages/packages/etc. to keep track of.

I just want to know how many games, and on what channels, in any language, are available to me on Bell ExpressVu.

I’m not interested in streaming, or watching games on my tablet or phone. I watch hockey on TV. The good thing is that nowadays I don’t have to go into the attic and turn the stick with the tinfoil on it around to catch the game.

Through Bell Expressvu, I have RDS. I have some of the Sportsnet channels (or maybe all), and of course any national broadcast will be available to me on whatever channel those HNIC boobs are on.

Do I need to still pick up the Centre Ice package to ensure I can watch all Habs games? Language isn’t important, and neither is which home team talking heads I have to listen to. I can turn the volume either off or way down if I feel the need to. I understand the game, and my eyes tell me more than any of those commentators could. Also, switching to Rogers Cable is a non-starter. Too much redtape involved in switching from Bell to Rogers with all the PVRs, HD receivers, and such that go along with each deal. I like what I have and really don’t want to go through all that.

I suppose Bell should have some info on their website very soon regarding hockey telecasts, and what channel lineup I will need. I don’t want to spring for Centre Ice, only to find out I could have gotten all the games without Centre Ice. So, for now, confusion still reigns.

The most important thing missing from your comment is your location Tommy. That’s what it all boils down to. If You are east of Belleville there is no streaming or hockcey package required. If you are west of Belleville you pay $60 to get the non national games online (GameCenter) or buy the Center Ice package on TV.

There were a lot of Bell customers on here yesterday saying they called Bell and were given the Center Ice package for $50. In the past it’s been $250 or something.

The team that looks in big trouble next year is Boston at this moment.
After the Krejci signing, they have $14M left, but only have 11 guys under contract – that’s 9 less than the mandatory 20, or 12 guys less than the max 23.
They will be praying for a huge Cap increase, and will continue the Marc Savard LTIR game ( another $4)

Luckily, the Habs don’t have to sign any significant players (except no rights/RFAs coming off entry level contracts) during the next three years with the exception of Pleks, who is two years from now. It will be interesting to see what the cap landscape looks like at that time.

What amazes me nowadays is how this won’t really affect Québecor, they’ll just keep on chugging because of their monopolies. The fact that they’re an abysmal news organization won’t impede their quest for profits in the least. Consolidation of media, ain’t it grand?

A lot of television talk and it appears that options and packages are finally clearing up.

One option I would pay for is this:
The Sounds Of The Game Only.

Some years back, there was a technical problem to start one of the games.
All the audio was fine with the exception of the announcers/analysts voices – they could NOT be heard.

All that was heard were The Sounds Of The Game picked up by the multitude of microphones throughout the arena.
It was great!
No babbling, constant, non stop voices – just the sounds of skates, shots, hits, player voices, and the crowd reactions.
Unfortunately, it only lasted for about 5 minutes.

I tried to reproduce that at home by turning off the center speaker in the surround system and just using the other side speakers, yet it just wasn’t the same.

Canadian announcers/analysts can learn a lot from NFL duos such as Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth or Joe Buck/Troy Aikman.

Apart from being superbly smart – and no need to utter never-ending, useless McGuiresque clichés, these guys know when to Shut Up and just let the picture tell the story for several moments.
They also treat their viewers with respect.( hello Glen Healy…)

G’morning, Ronn.
For years I’ve wanted that “sounds of the game” option. Then again, I want the regular camera angle changed, too. Fans watching on tv don’t really see the patterns in the game that you would get from a camera beneath the clock that swiveled to follow the play. Add to that a camera behind each goalie that is slightly elevated (we see this these days on power plays) and voila!

It could be a game camera angle or having the ability to focus on 1 player during his shift.
EX: It would be fun to watch PK away from the play for several seconds, or a guy like Plekanec and how he acts like a General out there using hand signals to position his line mates

In today’s world, so much is interactive with choice so why not Sports or NHL hockey in particular?

I remember many games showed like that when there was some sort of strike by some union. anyway, they only had the sound of the game & it was memorably good!
joe bowen is annoying as blazes. Hughson is ok. I prefer just the game sound by far!

Hi Ronn and Cal! There were a few games on NHL Center Ice (US) that had broadcast of the Jumbortron version . No announcers, just the same version shown on the Video screen. I don’t recall if it was just one particular team that did that and I’m not sure if Center Ice did that in Canada.

It was interesting. As I’ve said before, some of the road announcing teams are just pathetic. Yes, more pathetic then the bias CBS or TSN broadcast we complain about so often.

Yes, I like the sounds of the game. Another thing I find very annoying is the play by play guys. They barely call the game, they are too busy chatting about useless drivel! I know some folks here really like Bob Cole, but I never did. I grew up with Danny Gallivan and for me Cole doesn’t compare. Not to mention Gallivan called the game and gave both teams equal emotion when it game to scoring chances etc. Cole, especially the last few years, can’t keep up with the play, gets players wrong, and goes of on tangents and gibber jabbers, I think to hide the fact he can\t call games anymore.

Like Don Cherry, his time has come and gone, time to move on and get a fresh voice on the game! Someone who will actually call the game, know when not to talk, as to the great points made here, and NOT talk about other things. They need someone who has a solid hockey IQ, who can speak to what is going on in the game with his analyst during stoppages in play!

I just looked up Cole’s age and he turned a hard to believe 81 a few months ago.
According to Statscan, that’s 2 years older than the life expectancy of a Canadian born male…so yea, I can see why he’s about 4-5 seconds behind the play or can’t remember some of the names.

Once upon a time, he was very good.
Unfortunately for him, most of his TV broadcasting life from 1973 on, was covering…the Leafs

I was loungin’ on my teal chestschofield and, of corson, I needed to get some popovic from the kitchen. I just couldn’t dufresne myself. So, just as I gauvreau to get it, the front belle rings. No dowd about it, it was Dave and Allison. And there I was, naked as a zholtok. I pulled on my jeans and sandawes and threw on a Tee and let them in. I can’t be that rude to guests.

th on Time Magazine’s ALL-TIME 100 best non-fiction books — The Joy of Sex: 30th Anniversary Edition (I don’t think they mean the 30th anniversary of the last time you enjoyed sex, but I could be wrong)

letters in the longest word in English language: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

th longest river in the world: Ganges-Hooghly-Padma in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China (and here you’ve been thinking it was the Nelson-Saskatchewan in Canada and the United States; nope, it’s 37th)

I’m generally a fairly even tempered individual. I try not to overreact to things and try to always look at all sides of an issue. Even when news of the Rogers deal broke and how it was going to affect our TV access to the Habs…while I was pissed, I was taking it in stride. But in the last couple of days I’ve become irate! i’ve been trying to pin point the reason for my change in demeanour, and it boils down to this: I’m absolutely sick and tired of how things are being portrayed in terms of how WONDERFUL all these new developments are and how GREAT all this news is for Habs fans. Are we thought to complete imbecile’s???? Because as far as I can tell, no matter how you slice it, Habs fans are getting screwed over and no matter WHAT they are offering, Habs fans, especially those outside the “Habs region”….(ok that’s another point of contention. What the #$%^ is a Habs region. The official Habs site itself constantly goes out of it’s way to show just how global the Habs are. the “Habs region” is every inhabited continent on the globe!!!! anyway…i digress). Where was I?? Right, Habs fans are either getting less coverage or less convenient access to coverage, and having to pay more for it. So ENOUGH already!!! Stop trying to make all these bogus announcements sound like things Habs fans should be thankful for! We will not be thankful for having something stolen from us and then sold back to us at an exorbitant price. We are better than that, and the club that binds us together and who profits from our loyalty should know that. Rant….over

It’s ok Rob, it is not personal, nothing was stolen from you, it doesn’t belong to you, it is just a game, and the suits only objective is to make more money. They know that what they are doing will no lessen the popularity of the game overall, will make them more money, and gets more people talking about it. Also, unless you are retired (and even then), if you have time to watch even half the games, you are doing something wrong.

Listening to Bettman’s speech linked-above of today’s TVA/Rogers press conference introducing TVA’s exclusivity of French language broadcast rights, I could only feel like there was this great struggle resisting Bettman twisting-up My mind more than it already is.

Brian Mulroney sitting on a hard chair self-satisfied, licking his lips. Press and media sycophants watching the drivel like Bettman was from an oracle that had just come down from a Grecian mountain top to tell Us he is bequeathing to Montrealers and Quebecers the NHL’s/his passion for ‘hockey’.

I could not imagine something so disconnected from reality.

He goes on about how TVA is bringing more and better exposure of hockey ‘to this province’. TVA will be broadcasting 330 something games in Quebec. Not mentioning but 22 of those broadcasted in French will be Montreal’s own Montreal Canadiens.

I felt like wretching.

Where is Our pride ? How low have We sunk to listen to his crap without a hiss ?

It truly would never have occurred to me that anyone would contemplate listening to Buttman without hissing. I’m pleased to say that I missed his Wednesday installment, and have no intention of watching the video.

Must admit, however, that I am curious as to whether ” our game ” was uttered, yet again, in one of his hollow attempts to persuade those of us who have actually taped a stick and laced up a pair of skates that, beyond dollar signs, he has any concept of what hockey means to its real fans.

Stephen Maher: “Brian Mulroney is upset and disappointed by Pierre Karl Peladeau’s decision to run for the Parti Quebecois but is not likely to speak out against his longtime protege’s candidacy because he is a key part of Peladeau’s management team, say people who have spoken to the former prime minister.

Mulroney is the vice-chairman of Quebecor’s board of directors. Stock exchange filings show that in 2013, he earned $244,520 in compensation for his work for the company, plus an undisclosed sum in legal fees.

Mulroney is a partner at Norton Rose, which according to Quebecor’s 2013 Management Proxy Circular, is “principal legal counsel to the corporation.” Sources say Quebecor is Mulroney’s biggest client at the firm. Mulroney holds stock options in Quebecor worth $1,115,669.

No problem. Let me know or everyone else here know what they say cuz i’m also with telus. But i will assume telus will offer it as the french habs/sens package was created to cater to ppl outside Quebec. And the gamecentre faq page i posted earlier said its available for centre ice too

Habitant, I’m also interested to hear the outcome of this. I am also with Telus in Vancouver and all the discussion on here is for Rogers and Bell subscribers. I was planning to wait for the week before the season starts to figure out my options and choose the best way to go. Don’t think it will compare to the 5$/month french package add-on for RDS.

A press conference with Bettman and Mulroney and nobody got screwed…yeah right. Scott Moore is acting like he’s doing us a favor when last time I checked it was us cable subscribers who pay his salary. This must be one of the few businesses where you can screw your customers with high prices, poor service and terrible product choice and then expect gratitude when you start providing what the customer wants. Unbelievable…

Please join a blessing for a Rochester NY Police Office who has fallen in the line of duty. May the officer rest in pease, bless the family and friends, and the power be given to members of all forces.

Love the patronizing part where we hear Scott Moore himself is a Habs fan, whatever, like this is supposed to now make us respect him and just take whatever crap he feeds us as gospel. Good for you Scott, try telling us the fine print and be honest, then I may respect you. Until then just another Rogers suit shoving BS down the pipeline, you would think by now the HI/o staff might have the gist of what we have been bitching about.

So let me get this straight…… I live in Toronto and have center ice package. Do I get all 82 Habs games in English then and with the Rogers broadcast? Especially after yesterdays announcement of the regional broadcast

I cannot stand listening to Bruins, Caps, NYR or any other American based broadcast.

Are you serious? Compare it to the CBC clowns doing the Habs game. Or even the absolute worst Habs vs. Leafs. I’ll take American feeds first, since I don’t understand French then French, then mute…. The TSN guys were fine…. Stupid CBC

I don’t think article is clear where the 60 french games will be available. Is it on NHL Center Ice? I don’t think so. With NHL Center Ice you get all out of the region games (out of YOUR region, not the Habs region) so that’s more than 60. I think HIO is talking about NHL Gamecenter which is an internet feed available online or thorugh various media boxes and is nothing in comparison to NHL Center Ice both in quantity and quality.

Ya, Steve Faguy’s blog update makes it sound not so cut and dry as the Gazette: “Rogers has promised more GameCentre announcements in the coming weeks. There may also be announcements relating to NHL Centre Ice, the TV-based service for watching out-of-market games.” – http://blog.fagstein.com/2014/09/03/rogers-gamecentre-canadiens/

NHL and Rogers should receive a Darwin award for this mess.

_________________________________

“Obviously it would be great, but they don’t really hang conference titles in this rink. They raise Stanley Cup banners.” – Carey Price

This just doesn’t sound like NHL Center Ice… Can’t anyone at the Gazette ask some direct questions? Sheesh!
I talked to a buddy who used to have Gamecenter and he said “quality is sh!t… not even close to HD”. Rogers just found another way to milk people for money without having to spend a dime.

I’m getting the impression Rogers is still trying to figure out themselves WTF they are doing. Whole thing is a mess Bettman did this deal in 3 days and now the shit is showing through. Atta boy Gary, just keep effing with Canadians.

Definitely not clear on where to watch, yet totally clear on the cost “The French-language games will now be available for $60 to those outside the regional market.”
I’ll gladly pay the 60 to watch my Habs, but details are needed as to how to do so.

I’m optimistic about today’s announcement that the 60 RDS ‘regional’ Hab games will be made available to those of us west of Belleville. Though I don’t speak much French, it’s a service that rightfully should be made available to Francophones to follow their team in their mother tongue. And at roughly $1 per game, that’s a price that I can live with… though I might still have to pay to upgrade my internet package to handle the extra streaming. I hope that it still looks decent after I hook my computer up to my 50″.

Now the only hurdle for me would be to see if my cable supplier, Cogeco, will pick up this package and make it available to those of us in Hamilton.

That is true. But since the 60 games will be streamed over the internet, I also plan to turn down the volume and also stream the English TSN radio feed for the play-by-play… hopefully there won’t be much of a delay between the two feeds.